SAN ANTONIO – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros cross country teams are feeling confident and ready to run as they head to the final non-conference meet of the regular season. 
 
The Vaqueros will compete at the OLLU Cross Country Invite hosted by Our Lady of the Lake on Saturday at the Windcrest Golf Course in San Antonio. The course is a familiar one for UTRGV, which ran at this venue during its previous meet. The women's team had a strong fourth-place outing on the course, which is described as mostly flat with some small rolling hills that provide a slight elevation change. 
 
The women will run a 6K race starting at 8 a.m. and the men will begin their 8K race at 8:45 a.m. 
 
"They're feeling very confident. They're ready to compete to the best of their abilities and they're feeling like veterans. We have a young team, but they've gained a whole lot of experience in a short amount of time. Their race strategies have grown a whole lot and coach Ricardo Mendoza has done an impeccable job making sure they're prepared for everything. We're expecting some great things this meet and we're excited and ready to go," head track & field/cross country coach Shareese Hicks said.  
 
Sixteen teams will be competing at the meet, including UTRGV. Hicks believes the squad will have a strong outing and build momentum ahead of their first Southland Conference Championships, which are slated for Nov. 1. The distances for Saturday's race are the same mileage the Vaqueros will run at conference, so they're using this as a practice run and will attack the meet, mentally and physically, like it's the big show. 
 
"We're not really considering this a tune-up. We're considering this a, 'we are here,' meet. Once they get out there, Coach Mendoza is going to have them visualize running a conference championship so by the time we get there, we've already been there before," Hicks said. "I'm excited for these young men and women to go out there and show what all they've been working for. They work extremely hard and are extremely talented and it's their time." 

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